A monument commemorating the millions of Ukrainians who perished in the Holodomor -- the Ukrainian famine of the 1930s -- has been unveiled in the U.S. capital.

The monument -- a bronze slab resting on a stone plinth and showing a field of wheat stalks -- symbolizes the taking of grain by the Soviet authorities.

Historians say the seizure of the 1932 crop in Ukraine by the Soviets was the main cause of the famine, also known as the Holodomor.

Ukraine's first lady, Maryna Poroshenko, was present at the ceremony in downtown Washington where a taped video address by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was also played.

"The famine was an attempt to force the Ukrainian people to their knees, to deprive us of our dignity, to destroy our national identity and to kill our hope for the right to create our own destiny in our own land," Poroshenko said in the recording.